Libraries with Coffee Shops

If you're thinking about putting a coffee shop into your library, you might want to review the bibliography here to help you identify appropriate answers to such issues as the extent of service to be offered, how the service is managed, the impact on policies, such as food in the rest of the library, and the effect on tax revenues.

Once you've completed your project, feel free to add it to the list below.

"Coffee anyone?" by Linda M. Lapointe. College & Research Libraries News, Feb 2006, Vol. 67 Issue 2, p97-99 ACRL members access How marketing classes helped developed a business plan for a college library café.

"Coffee Shops in Libraries" The summary, in .PDF format, of a Field Initiated Study conducted by J. Welch, Ruby M. Sisson Memorial Library, Pagosa Springs, Colorado, March 2006. Has checklist of points to include in an RFP for an outsourced coffee shop.

"Lattes 'n libraries," by Leo MacLeod. Bottom Line 11, no. 3 (1998), p. 97-100. The experiences of the Multnomah County Library, Portland, Oregon, particularly in weighing advantages of contracting for the service, and considering the extent of service. Article available through Emerald and Ingenta.

"Packing Up the Books," by Katherine S. Mangan. Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/1/2005, Vol. 51 Issue 43, pA27-A28. At the University of Texas library, most of the 90,000 volumes formerly in the undergraduate library were replaced clusters of computers, a coffee shop, comfortable chairs, and 24-hour technical help, to make room for an "information commons."